Plenty of enjoyment to be had at week-long festival

A PACKED week of events will see Heanor come to life during the town’s annual festival, which begins tomorrow.

From Friday, June 24, until July 2, venues across Heanor will open their doors for special events from an art and flower exhibition to a five-a-side football tournament.

And as part of this year’s Heanor Festival, the Market Place will become the venue for an event-packed fun day on Sunday.

The day will be opened at noon by local TV weather girl Anna Church, from BBC’s East Midlands Today.

It will feature live music, stalls, games, refreshments and entertainments and will also see the return of Teddies Leap of Faith, where children can watch their teddy bears parachute from the top of St Lawrence’s Church.

Chairman of the Heanor Festival Trust David Rowley is hoping the festival will be a chance to bring the community together.

He said: “We need people to start feeling positive about the town and their environment because at the moment a lot of people don’t.

“This festival is about making people aware of what the community can offer. If they come they will enjoy what is there – there is something for all ages and there will be exhibitions open, there will be all sorts of things going on.

The fun day on Sunday will also see the Market Place paraded by ten of the area’s primary schools.

Each will hold giant flags the children have designed to celebrate next year’s Olympics.

On the same day the visitors’ centre at Shipley Country Park, on Slack Lane, will host Animal Magic, a new event for 2011, where visitors can check out stalls and animal shows as well as having their pet checked over by professional vets for a small charge.

A heritage exhibition of Heanor’s history will make its return this year at the Old Fire Station, on Wilmot Street, throughout the week. This year the theme for the exhibition is sports and leisure.

Mr Rowley said the overall cost of the festival was roughly £3,500, with nearly a third of the funding coming from NatWest bank.

The Heanor Festival Trust successfully applied for a community grant from the scheme the bank was running across Derbyshire in October.

It comes as the town centre is struggling due to many shop closures, including the large Co-op-owned supermarket. Traders have now formed a task force to help save the centre.

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